OVERVIEW

The EH6030 is a 2012 Samsung LCD TV with a very attractive price tag given its screen size and functions. We were therefore quite keen to get it into our test lab. However, Samsung didn't have one of these TVs available to lend us, so we headed straight to the Boulanger Aubervilliers electronics store (thanks guys!) just outside of Paris to get a closer look.

For around £600, this TV offers a screen refresh rate of 100 Hz, an active-shutter 3D mode and a decent built-in media player. It could prove to be a great-value option, which is why we insisted on getting our hands on it one way or another.

We tested the 46" (117 cm) version of the EH6030, but this TV is also available in 32" (81 cm, UE32EH6030) and 40" (102 cm, UE40EH6030) models. Beware, though—the screen panel could change from one model to the next. Our test results therefore only apply to the 46" model.

2D IMAGE QUALITY

After setting up our kit on the shop floor, the first thing we did was get an up-close look at the screen's subpixels with a macro photo. The results show that the 46EH6030 uses a PSA screen panel, a Samsung-made variant of VA technology.

Colours in Movie mode: average Delta E = 2.3

Contrast measured at 2850:1

Our tests showed that the default picture settings in the EH6030 give good-quality results, even if some pricier TVs do a much better job. The test results with the EH6030 in Movie mode (which gives the most accurate picture, according to our various tests) are as follows:

Contrast = 2850:1, that's a little on the low side for watching films in pitch-dark conditions but it's perfectly fine when you've got a bit of background lighting.

Delta E 94 = 2.3 (the lower the Delta E, the more accurate the onscreen colours. With a Delta E under 3 colours can be considered accurate).

Colour temperature = 7000 kelvins, which is a little cool and a little blue-heavy.

Screen responsiveness = 10 ms, which isn't bad. It's on the better side of average compared with the other TVs we've reviewed.

The viewing angles aren't so great, however. Variation in the onscreen image can reach up to 200% when viewed from the sides of the screen. This TV therefore scores lees than 1/5 for viewing angles, which is clearly quite disappointing! You'll therefore need to make sure your sofa is lined up facing the TV screen directly.

CLOUDING

Unfortunately, we weren't able to take our usual clouding photo for this TV, as the in-store lighting was too strong. We were, however, able to take various black-level readings across the screen, which in turn showed that the black wasn't consistent over the display. The maximum deviation reached 44%, ranging from 0.04 cd/m² in the corners of the screen to 0.07 cd/m² in the middle of the panel. This kind of discrepancy won't be noticeable in a brightly lit room, but we know from experience that the central part of the display may look a bit washed-out when watching TV with the lights off.

All in all, that earns the UE46EH6030 three stars for clouding.

3D

As with its other 3D TVs, Samsung has opted for active-shutter technology here.

Two pairs of 3D glasses are supplied as standard. Plus, Samsung's models are among the cheapest on the market right now, at just £15 a pair. They may not be the most stylish eyewear around, but they're comfortable and light.

In a perfect 3D image, there would be no traces of the 'R' frame on the 'L' frame, and vice versa.

Unfortunately, 3D picture quality in the EGH6030 isn't on par with Samsung's ES6300 and ES6710. The picture in 3D mode is often prone to crosstalk, where images for the left and right eyes end up overlapping onto one another.

DESIGN

The EH6030 has a very basic design. It has a black casing that's glossy on the front and matte around the back. One slight change here compared with Samsung's ES-series models is that the LED backlights are grouped together and placed right behind the screen. They aren't arranged around the edges of the panel as with Edge LED backlighting or arranged uniformly over the back of the screen, as with Full LED. That explains why the casing is almost 10 cm thick. The stand is fixed (no swivel/tilt) and is made from glossy black plastic.

There isn't a huge choice of connections here. The UE46EH6030 only has two HDMI ports, plus one USB port, one SCART socket, a combined composite/component connection, and an Ethernet port for DLNA and firmware updates.

We tested out the built-in multimedia player by hooking up an external hard drive to the USB port. However, we soon found out that the USB port isn't powerful enough to run a 2.5" hard drive. You'll therefore need to make sure your drive has an external power source. But apart from that, the media player here is exactly the same as in Samsung's other 2012 TVs. It's compatible with loads of video container formats (AVI, MP4, MKV, Mov, MTS and M2TS) and codecs (AVC-HD, H.264, X.264, WMV, DivX and Xvid).

[sous_note(864,Audio,,)]
Seeing as we didn't test this TV in our lab, we weren't able to fully analyse the audio output. This TV has the same audio system as Samsung's 5000- and 6000-series TVs (2 x 10 W), so in theory it should reproduce the frequency range for human voices pretty well. That's fine for watching TV shows, but the lack of bass isn't so great for films. A proper home cinema speaker kit or sound bar would probably still make a wise addition.

POWER USE

Power use is a little higher than with Edge LED models. We measured consumption levels at 1 W on standby and 85 W in use, which makes for 146 W/m² for this 46" screen (117 cm).

Our Recommended Settings

After trying out the various modes and settings in the internal menu, we preferred this TV in Movie mode. In fact, image quality is already accurate in Movie mode, so you don't need to bother changing any other settings. Anyone looking for a super-smooth onscreen image might want to set Motion Plus to "Standard". This reduces any glitches or judder but it also creates a slight "soap opera" effect.

PROS

CONS

Black level isn't consistent across the screen, risk of clouding

Tight viewing angles

Pretty strong crosstalk in 3D mode

CONCLUSION

The Samsung EH6030 ensures good picture quality in Movie mode. We particularly like its accurate colours, responsive screen and high contrast (2850:1 measured here). It's just a shame that the viewing angles are so tight and that crosstalk is a problem in 3D mode. Still, this TV is good value for money.